Snow Business, June 2016

WEATHER One hit wonder winter BY FRANK LOMBARDO Contributor T he 2015 16 winter season likely will be remembered by most of the snow and ice industry as a rather lackluster winter with the exception of a single storm Despite several areas of hefty snowfall the global atmospheric weather patterns typical of strong El Niños featuring a large upper level trough of low pressure along the West Coast with a ridge of high pressure dominating much of the central and eastern US kept the coldest arctic air bottled up in northern Canada near the Arctic Circle during much of the winter This pattern was responsible for cutting off the supply of cold air necessary to produce normal snowfalls across the United States and lower Canada With the exception of a few episodes during the latter half of the winter the majority of the United States and southern Canada remained unseasonably milder than normal Overall the meteorological winter from December 2015 through February 2016 was the warmest on record at 368 F 46 F above normal for the US A December to remember Most notable was December 2015 when temperatures shattered many long standing records for the warmest December in history Nearly 500 daily records were broken during the month with areas of New England and southern Quebec running 20 to 30 above normal at times Bostonians saw 69 F on Christmas Eve In many areas east of the Mississippi the average temperature was actually warmer than a typical November The warmth encouraged daffodils to start blooming in the north and even led to some early cherry blossoms in Washington DC SEASONAL TOTALS INCLUDING JANUARY 22 24 2016 STORM The top map shows the general lackluster snowfall that had occurred given the warmer temperatures in December The January storm however sent some cities past their records as shown in the bottom map SOURCE FRANK LOMBARDO WEATHERWORKS INC During one of the busiest ski weeks of the winter resorts in northern Vermont struggled to keep snow on the ground as temperatures climbed into the upper 60s The Ohio Valley and Mid Atlantic states saw temperatures top 60 F a dozen times during the month reaching highs above 70 F on Christmas The only thing missing in the east was snow 36 SNOW BUSINESS JUNE 2016 www sima org snowbusiness The big one Most of the early snowfall during November and December was confined to the Northwest Rockies and Northern Plains One of the most memorable events was during the middle of December when portions of Colorado Wyoming and South Dakota measured around a foot of snow But there was one exception A powerful storm on

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